Howling
by Silent Whisperer
Summary: A two shot I came up with while listening to a song.Something screaming pulls Gaara and Sakura together with a force.Please enjoy and R
1. Blackout

Alright here's the dealio. I haven't written in forever.

Sorry peeps.

I don't have much to say except…ENJOY!!! .

_Italics are flashbacks and phone conversations while _**bold is inner thoughts**.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the song lyrics, I would die if I did, but I don't. So boo hoo hoo.**

-Mokumoku Sasayaki  
(Silent Whisperer)

* * *

Why him of all people? It wasn't fair. He stood, a look of disgust plastered onto his face, his jaw quivering at the shrieking sound. Damn that Temari, she walked into his apartment like she owned the place and gave him this…this thing at him, telling him she would be back home in a week after her vacation with her husband.

His mind was filled with panic and frustration as the rain beat down on his apartment roof. He had tried feeding, burping, and even changing but it didn't make a difference. The room suddenly lit up as lightning flashed illuminating the contorted face of the small child that Gaara, the all fearsome, was holding an arms length away. The baby shrieked even louder as the thunder boomed across the sky as if a drum had been hit. Cursing the storm under his breath Gaara stood motionless in the apartment. He had no idea what so ever to do with a screaming baby. He searched his mind frantically for something else he knew about trying to quiet babies, but he came up with nothing.

'Damn it!' he thought, 'What to do with this baby is beyond me.'

Then a memory surfaced, from about 1 week ago, about a woman from the hospital.

_It had been pouring rain, and Gaara had just walked into the hospital for his yearly flu shot. It was a big pointless pain in the ass he thought but he still went, pretty much because his work demanded it. The problem was that not many of the doctors liked to go near him, let alone __treat__ him! After coming into the hospital the residents decided that, from recent experiences, that since they didn't enjoy crippling mental and verbal abuse then they should stay clear of Gaara. Sadly, the only way the doctors could decide on who to treat him was by playing a game._

_Rock, Paper, Scissors._

_It wasn't professional in the slightest, but that is what the tongue lashings of Gaara had reduced them too._

_Luckily, this year they didn't need to play a game, this year they had a new doctor in the ranks. She was quickly climbing the ladder and becoming one of the best physicians in the hospital, and the best part was that the patients __loved__ her. So, it was a unanimous decision that she would go in first._

_Sakura shook her head at the other doctors who all stood staring at her. One even held a tissue box in preparation of Sakura running out of the room crying._

_Sakura squared her shoulders, "Alright you cowards, I'll be back out in a minute with a patient who has gotten their shot… Scardy cats."_

_She stepped into the room and surveyed her patient. He was leaning back in a chair with his eyes closed. He had a slim but muscular body, tousled red hair, a tattoo on his forehead, and he was also undeniably hott. Why had nobody told her that important fact? She was sure that her best friend, Ino, who was a nurse on the staff, would have told her! She paused, blinked, and then spoke to the tousle haired beauty._

"_You must be the infamous Gaara, no? Well, I'm your doctor, and I'm just going to take a second and poke you with this needle, then you can leave the hospital so the rest of the terrified staff can get back to work."_

_He snapped open his eyes and blinked in surprise. He had been waiting for the first poor medic to walk in the door so he could scare them right back out, but whoever it was had t caught him a little off guard with their spout of words, that weren't sobs of fear. He was just about to let loose a verbal torment of his own back at her, but she caught him off guard again. He had never seen her before, and he knew she must know about how he tortured the staff, but she was looking straight at him with a fire in her green eyes that seemed to mock him even before he opened his mouth. She was moderately attractive with pale rose colored hair, but it was her eyes that he was mystified by._

"_I'm sorry if not many people here have enough backbone to treat me, but still I'm surprised to see that they got scared enough to bring in a dye job nurse to do their work."_

_Sakura glared furiously at the Gaara, who was still propped back in a chair, eyeing her with a blank face. "Well, first of all I'm a __doctor__ and secondly, I'm sorry that you are so jealous of my __natural__ hair color but trust me, pink is not your color, and third; roll up your sleeve."_

_He stared at her for a few more moments then rolled up his white shirt sleeve. She grabbed a syringe full of clear liquid off of a cart and neatly poked it into his arm. Then, the lights went out._

"_Shit!" she swore whirling around. A dark gloom rushed over the hospital, and people outside were running frantically to check on patients. _

"_So you are just going to leave this needle in my arm all night?" an amused male voice inquired to Sakura's back. She whirled around and stared at the needle which was stuck, bobbing slightly in Gaara's arm. Hurriedly she pulled the needle out and threw it into the nearest trash can._

"_Alright! You're all done!" she said distractedly. "You may leave whenever you wish and we-" Howls erupted from a room not far away. _

"_Oh no! The children's ward! Why isn't anybody over there?! The staff at this hospital are imbeciles! Leaving children alone in the dark like that! I RUN EVERYTHING AROUND HERE!" she said furiously, ran out of the room and down the hallway._

_Gaara stood, he could hear her from down the hallway, berating the staff and barking orders to whoever was in her path. _

_What was wrong with him? He didn't make her cry?! Was he loosing his touch? _

_He decided to shake it off, because it didn't really matter, and with this power outage there was nothing to do, so he decided just to leave. _

'_There's always next year.' he thought as he walked down the hallway towards the nearest exit. Then as he walked by a large room covered with stickers and paintings he heard singing. He looked into the room and saw Sakura sitting smack dab in the middle of the floor with a small child in her lap. The child had his face buried in her coat and was sobbing as she sang softly into his ear._

_As oceans collide  
From the moon grows the sun  
Arrest my breath  
With no name and no one _

Silence of the sound  
And the color of the night  
The sounds from the thoughts  
And the thoughts from light

Fluid and sinking  
I melt into the light  
There's nothing but space  
And my soul can take flight 

_Surprisingly the child grew quiet and fell into a light doze as she finished singing to him. She sighed and stood up, holding the little boy and turned around to lay him down in a bed. Then she walked over to another doctor who was trying to sooth a little girl who was wailing about the dark, so Sakura promptly scooped her up and sat down once again, singing to the girl till she fell asleep. Then the lights flickered back on and Gaara stood watching Sakura for a few more moments before turning around walking out of the hospital doors._

He had left and hadn't though of that memory again until the wailings of the baby in his arms had forced his mind into trying to find any possible answer to shut the thing up. He then realized that he needed to find her.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

Sakura had actually remembered Gaara. She knew he hadn't noticed, but she had seen him standing in the doorway and watching her sing. For some reason she noticed that his expression upon seeing her sing seemed almost apologetic.

'**You should have snapped him up while you had the chance!'** Her inner self complained.

'You shut up! Anyways, he didn't seem interested in me at all! Only when I was singing did he take any real notice to me, anyways he's gone! SO STOP BUGGING ME!' she retorted to herself.

Inner Sakura grumbled, but surprisingly stayed quiet. The storm boomed overhead as Sakura laid on her couch covered in a blanket with one of her favorite books open on her lap. Apparently, something was a little off with the heat that night, but she couldn't do anything about it and she would live through the night. She took a sip of her lukewarm tea and glanced at the clock, 12:37.

'It's going to be a hard day tomorrow, but I just can't sleep. It's this horrible storm!' she thought. Another boom of thunder sounded and Sakura groaned.

"Too loud!" she said, flipping over so that her face was imbedded in the couch cushion. God. She would kill for a bottle of sleeping pills right about now.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

Gaara took out the phone book from under his desk and began to flip through it; he got up to the C's before realizing he only knew her first name! He tried to remember but, of course, he was interrupted. His phone rang in his pocket and he hastily grabbed it up.

"Hello?" he barked.

"_Gaara! Long time no talk and what the hell are you killing or maiming, because nothing I know of could make that loud of a noise?!"_

Gaara sighed, perfect, just perfect. "What do you want Naruto."

"_Geeze, no need to be so cold! I'll explain; so the other night I was going out for ramen, my daily ritual, and I saw Sakura at the stand so I sat down with her and that reminded-"_

"GET TO THE POINT BAKA!" he growled. He needed to stop the incessant wailing of he baby as soon as possible.

"_DON'T INTERUPT ME! Well, I was just asking if you wanted-"_

"Wait. Who did you meet at the stand?"

"_YOU DID IT AGAIN!"_

Gaara sighed, "Okay, okay, Naruto. But I need to know who you said you saw there. Sakura right? Sakura who?'

"_Yeah, your right, and its Sakura Haruno…Do you know her?"_

Gaara flipped through the phone book until he found 3 Haruno Sakuras. 'Damn it.' He thought.

"What street does she live on?" he demanded.

"_Who? Sakura? Lynit Road, why do you want to know?... OMG! ARE YOU STALKING MY DEAREST SAKURA?!"_

"BAKA! Shut up! Listen, I'll get back to you later. I'll go buy you ramen or something, whatever." And he hung up on the sputtering blonde.

"1587 Lynit Road." He said quickly writing down the address and the cross street on a piece of paper.

He grabbed the baby up, rocking him back and forth in a vain attempt to quiet the baby down just a little so his neighbors wouldn't think he was killing a cat…or two. He wrapped the baby in a bundle of blankets and put him into his basket; thank god Temari had left that, and stepped out of his apartment complex. Luckily he had an umbrella so the baby didn't get wet, unfortunately, he did.

Climbing into his car which, of course, he had parked some distance away, Gaara shook his head, spraying the windows with moisture.

'Idiot! You can't drive around in a storm with a baby lying in the seat!' he thought to himself.

"Well, no cops will be out in this weather, I can't believe I'm out in this weather. I just have to get to her apartment fast." He mumbled.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

"Why can't I get to sleep!" she moaned into her couch. Rolling off of the fluffy resting place, Sakura stood and shuffled into her bathroom.

"Would a bath do the trick?" she said wondering out loud.

Quickly filling the tub with warm water and bath salt, Sakura slowly stood in the tub. It had always taken her a minute to get used to the bath temperature, especially her feet, so she always stood in the water until she felt like sliding down into it. As soon as she was fully submerged a wave of calm washed over her, not sleep, but calm.

"Maybe I was just over extended." She mumbled into the cold air.

The bath was heaven until the water started to run cold, so she pulled herself out of the tub and into a towel, quickly changing into a pair of pajamas, warm fuzzy socks, and a hat included, to stay warm.

Shuffling back to the window of her apartment, Sakura looked at the soaked city. 'God, who would be out in this weather?' she thought to herself. As soon as she said it, a car went speeding by her apartment.

"Stupid people, disrupting the cities trace-like state." she grumbled as she turned back around to the inviting couch with its tons of blankets.

As soon as she turned back to the couch the car that she had seen fly by, slowly backed up into view of her apartment windows. If she had stayed at the window a second longer, she would have seen a soaked red head holding an umbrella over a basket get out of the car and run towards her building.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

"I don't know her apartment number." Gaara groaned, staring at the rows of apartments. He was not going to call Naruto back and ask, but luckily for him, a man came hurrying down the hall.

"Excuse me." Gaara said to the man. The man whirled around to stare at the disheveled red head, who was carrying a large basket that was currently shrieking as if it had two broken legs.

"Yes?" the man said eyeing Gaara warily.

"Where do the Haruno's live?"

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

Sakura had just buried her nose into a book, and had begun to read when she thought she heard a horrible noise. Sitting up, she listened, but didn't hear anything. Settling back down, she heard it again, it was getting louder by the second.

'Am I going crazy? What is that noise?' she thought.

Then a knock could be faintly heard through the banshee wailings. Sakura sat for a moment then scrambled up to get the door. Pulling the door wide open, Sakura saw a sight that she would have never ever believed in a million years.

Standing in the doorway was a dripping wet Gaara, carrying a baby basket which was emitting the most fowl noise.


	2. No Food

_I am a horrible person. That is all._

-Silent Whisperer

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

They stared at each other for a moment then, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

He blinked slowly and replied as if it was the easiest question in the world, "I'm here so you can stop the baby from crying."

She stared at him incredulously then directed her attention to the wailing basket. "…Oh my god!" she said. "That's a baby!"

Then she grabbed the basket from Gaara's arms moved quickly back into her apartment.

Gaara stood in the doorway awkwardly, not used to the absence of the basket in his arms. Then he stepped into her dark apartment turning his head this way and that to observe his new surroundings.

A small kitchen peeked out from behind a counter top to his right, straight ahead were two doors, the one on the right probably led to the bathroom and the one straight ahead probably led to Sakura's bedroom. Then he looked to his left, it was a small living room of sorts. A couch piled high with blankets and behind that a dining table with two small chairs. In front of the couch was a coffee table which was covered in scribbled pages, books, and a coffee mug placed right next to the paper table coaster. In front of that table was a TV and two bookshelves flanking the TV cabinet. And in front of a large closed window was Sakura, sitting on a chair with her feet curled up underneath her, bending over the baby basket.

She slowly removed the crying baby from its cradle and wrapped him in her arms. She stood cautiously, swinging her feet out from underneath her butt and bouncing out of the chair. The baby was still howling, though not at such a high pitched frequency now.

She kept her head bent over the little boy, her hair acting as a curtain so it looked like her and the child were having their own secretive conversation. She circled a few times then sat down on the couch admits the mountains of blankets.

Rocking the babe gently, Sakura began to sing softly, but loud enough for Gaara to hear every word, and understand that she was trying to drown out the storm by singing.

Little child, be not afraid  
The rain pounds harsh against the glass  
Like an unwanted stranger  
There is no danger  
I am here tonight

Little child  
Be not afraid  
Though thunder explodes  
And lightning flash  
Illuminates your tearstained face  
I am here tonight

The baby quieted, listening to Sakura's compelling voice.

And someday you'll know  
That nature is so  
This same rain that draws you near me  
Falls on rivers and land  
And forests and sand  
Makes the beautiful world that you see  
In the morning

By then the baby had been lulled into a light doze so silence fell over the apartment. Sakura gently laid the baby down on the pillows and pulled a small blanket out over him. Only then did she glance up to see Gaara still standing in the doorway looking completely out of his element, and completely drenched.

"Oh god! What was I thinking? I took the baby from you and totally ignored you. I haven't even asked you if you would like a change of clothes or anything!" she blubbered at him.

"I don't think your pajamas would fit me. If you haven't noticed, I'm a lot bigger than you." He said with a straight expression. "Besides, I'm fine."

"First of all, no you aren't. I'm a doctor and if you catch pneumonia in my house then that would be ironic and it would suck. Secondly, I have some old guys sweatpants that would probably fit you…I could probably find a clean pair. Here," she said grabbing her used hair towel from off of the floor, "…dry your head with this and I'll be right back with some dry clothes for you."

A minute later Sakura came back with a large pair of dark green pants and a black sweatshirt.

"Sorry, but I didn't have any shirts to fit you so I would just wear this sweatshirt if I was you…Oh, and the bathroom is down the hall to your right."

Gaara merely grunted an acknowledgement before squishing his way down the hall towards the bathroom. Sakura stood for a moment before realizing what had just happened.

"Holy shit." She muttered to herself then clapped her hand over her mouth realizing that the baby wasn't very far away at all, and she herself believed that, even when unconscious, things are absorbed into the brain.

As Sakura sat mildly dazed, staring at the sleeping infant, Gaara sidled up to the side of the couch where she was sitting.

"I left my wet clothes in the shower. I didn't think you would like those lying around."

Sakura blinked rapidly and turned to him. "You have a kid?"

This time it was Gaara's turn to furiously open and close his eyelids. "HELL NO. It's Temari's brat." he spat out, earning a stern glare from Sakura.

"This is a baby. A baby isn't a brat. A baby doesn't know what swear words are, and a baby SHOULDN'T know what they are either." she replied with a fire.

Gaara found interest in the fierce side of her…kitty has claws. He smirked lightly and turned to face the glass window; he looked at the reflection and saw Sakura, and what she was wearing for the first time. A loose fitting tank top that easily showed that she wasn't wearing a bra, plaid pajama bottoms, and an odd pair of fuzzy socks…he was most interested in the top half. He would admit it, she was a pretty sight, and she had a fire in her eyes that could show itself from behind a veil of green sea, it was very appealing. Around kids she showed a sickly softness that was to vulnerable for Gaara, he felt quite uncomfortable watching her be so open. That's why in the hospital he didn't see her as quite a dish as she was. He knew he was doing the whole man judgment thing, praising her like meat, but it had to be done, just to get it out of his system.

Abruptly he turned, "Where did you learn those songs?"

"Oh…" Sakura looked up at Gaara, realizing that he was wearing her old pajamas……and that she wasn't wearing a bra. As if on cue he glanced down at her chest and her face flamed scarlet. As nonchalantly as she could she picked up a pillow from next to her and hugged it to her chest. "…I learned them from old songs I've heard on the radio. I looked them up and learned them, surprisingly they came in handy. I have a knack for children's songs…" she laughed slightly nervously and smiled as warmly as she could in the situation.

Silence descended over the room once again and Sakura found herself fidgeting, then finally, what she had been waiting for all night, she hit the wall. A gigantic yawn stretched from her mouth and her arms stretched over her head to reveal a hint of her pale stomach. Her eyes fell heavy as she drowsily blinked and tried to figure out how to get herself into her room and asleep.

Gaara watched as the cotton candy headed mystery suddenly deflated of spark and she seemed to radiate exhaustion. It was two in the morning, but seeing as he didn't care about time…ever…it never really dawned on him that she would sleep. The storm was still raging outside and he did NOT want to take a chance alone with that baby again. Even in her sleep stupor Sakura seemed to read his mind, or at least presume what he was thinking. She groggily stood up, waving a little from side to side.

"I'll bring the baby to bed with me, you take the couch." She wearily said, and giving him no word in edgewise she scooped up the sleeping babe and shuffled down the hall to the furthest room and disappeared into it.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

Sakura awoke to the overwhelming smell of baby. Not the bad baby smell, the pleasant one that makes you smile and what to cuddle the nearest object. Sakura took a moment to realize why she smelled baby, and then she remembered. The reason she smelled baby was because there was a baby sleeping beside her…and there was also an attractive man in her clothes on the couch outside her door.

What an interesting morning it would be. She didn't have to be at the hospital until two and seeing as it was 1 she had a very short amount of time to see how she could handle having a gorgeous man in her home trying to care for an infant. She headed for the door, but turned around quickly to snap on a bra and pick up the baby. Now she was ready.

She walked into the living room to find not a soul. She looked at the balcony, not a soul. She walked into the kitchen, not a soul, until she stepped forward and almost fell over the form of Gaara sitting on the tiled floor with a book in his hand.

"Good god! There is such a thing as a chair!" Sakura huffed as she managed to maneuver out of the kitchen and lay the baby down in a pile of fluffy blankets.

Paying no attention to her comment Gaara's voice rose from behind the kitchen counter, "Your schedule says you get off at 2am tomorrow morning."

Sakura walked back over to the kitchen and leaned over the counter to stare at the red headed confusion. "Yeah I do…"

Without looking up from his book he replied, "It's too late for you too get home by yourself and if you're gonna be helping me with that kid then I'll just have to pick you up."

Mind racing, Sakura frantically tried to think of something to get back at him by, but it all ended in her thinking about how he needed her help with the baby…so he would be around…for a while. "How long exactly is his mother out of town?"

"One week. I'll bring over some stuff for myself while you're working. By god you need food at least." He said, gesturing to the bare laden fridge.

Sakura desperately glanced at the clock, she had to get ready and leave…now. But that meant leaving a man she barely knew with an infant, in her home, for a week. He would be buying her GROCERIES! It was a ridiculous thought even for her and she couldn't help laughing, he wouldn't dare, no man is that courageous. Her last boyfriend wouldn't even buy a piece of fruit for her let alone stock her fridge. Nervously she glanced at the clock again then sighed in defeat, the inner battle was won, he could do what he wanted.

'**50 bucks says he leaves you stranded at the hospital in the morning!'**

'Oh you shut up!'

'**Well hey. He's in our house and says he'll stock the fridge, maybe you jinxed him SCORE. HOTT MAN IN THE HOUSE!!'**

Ignoring her innerself victory dancing, she quickly wrote out some instructions on a piece of paper as to how to manage a baby then she sprinted into the next room.

When she immerged, actually looking professional, she found Gaara had moved to the couch and was staring at the baby with a mixture of horror and curiosity.

"Listen, if he starts crying there is a CD in the cabinet on the far left which is labeled 'Pocket Songs' pop that in the CD player and he should fall asleep…good luck" she offered and taking one last glance at the strange man on her couch, she left.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-

_2am, Hospital_

After a long tiring day of sickness, needles, and the constant inner turmoil of leaving a strange man in her home, Sakura wearily walked to the doors of the hospital. Finding a bus to take her home would be difficult, seeing as she had given up hope on Gaara getting her a ride. As she stepped outside a sleek black car blasted its horn. She whipped around to face the car and heard a shout of, "Get in the car. The backs filled with food and a baby so you're going to have to deal with the mountain of crap in the passenger seat."

She smiled, and quickly loped to the impatient man awaiting her. Maybe there was someone who could look after her after all.

Thank you for reading Howling.

It's a pleasure as always loves. :)


End file.
